DC Gets a Little New 52 Facebook Flack

DC put a poll on its Facebook page asking for suggestions, and the response is likely not what they hoped.

Is this really some kind of news? Depends on how seriously you take Facebook polls. However, it is kind of amusing.

DC Comics asked a question on their Facebook page, [ED: which has since been taken down, but you can see a screen grab here] basically asking for suggestions from fans on how they'd like to learn more about the history of the New 52 version of the DC Universe, in the wake of their #0 month flashback stunt. Of course, when you leave yourself that wide open to suggestions from your fanbase, you're going to get some responses you don't want – and many responses that have nothing to do with the question at hand.

At the time of this writing, the leading response is "Crisis on Earth-New 52: How the experiment ends and we return to the 'real' DCU" with 928 votes – and you can vote for more than one suggestion. In second place is "Bring back some characters, such as Wally West, Cassie Cain and Stephanie Brown." A common lament. 680 votes. Third is "Bring back the old DCU," which kinda folds into the leader. That's got 440 votes, although obviously some repeats. In fourth place is the first actual response DC would prefer, which is "Let the history unfold as part of the ongoing story." 436 votes, and basically a vote for 'just keep putting out books and don't stunt it up."

Of course, there are 47 potential options to vote for at the moment, some with suggestions about just bringing back the old DCU on a different Earth, others just being mean by saying "Fire Scott Lobdell" or "Fire Dan DiDio." Then stuff that reminds you not to take Facebook polls all that seriously, as they're just there to engage fans a little bit and keep your product in their minds. Stuff like "make a porn comic with Superman and Powergirl [sic]."

So it's not really a big deal. It's an internet poll. But it raises a few interesting questions, like:

How SHOULD DC dish out more new backstory? Should they provide an official timeline of what has and hasn't really occurred, like they did after the original Crisis on Infinite Earths? It's going to be tough and will likely require retconning, given that Comicosity is already trying to map out a New 52 timeline and has run into some irreconcilable roadblocks.

Should they bring back the previous DCU as part of the Multiverse and have both of them ongoing, or would that undercut their commitment to the New 52?

How would you bring back Wally West, Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown in a New 52 context? Wipe 'em clean and start from scratch, or try to salvage what you can from their old lives by shunting them through some kind of funky portal as they were from the old DCU? Dare we dream of Ted Kord or Ralph & Sue Dibny?